Twins-White Sox: Twins try to stop the slide

The Twins already have had three, three-game losing streaks since the All-Star break.

I received many questions from twitter followers and through e-mail about the Twins' choice of uniform last night. Yes, it was the first time this regular season the Twins have worn the red uniform tops. They were a fixture during spring training.

The starting pitcher normally chooses that day's uniform, and Logan Darnell did sign off on the decision. But some with the club thought it would be worth trying out to see if its luck would change. The offense scored eight runs on Friday, which was good, but the bullpen imploded in a 10-8 loss. Not sure when they will try the red uniforms again.

A big roar went up in the clubhouse when former Twin Sam Fuld threw out Alex Gordon at home plate to end the fourth inning of the A's-Royals game.

One topic of conversation before the game was how to pitch to Chicago first baseman Frank Thomas....I mean Jose Abreu. Abreu brings a streak of reaching base in ten straight plate appearances into the game. Pitching coach Rick Anderson said a pitcher can't make mistakes over the plate and must pitch hitters like Abreu hard inside so they don't too comfortable attacking the outer half of the plate.

``Make him aware that you can get in there,'' Anderson said.

Ricky Nolasco threw in the bullpen before today's game and will head to Cedar Rapids for a start on Tuesday. Nolasco has told some people with the team that his arm feels the best it has in two years. That's encouraging to the Twins, who have sunk a nice chunk of change in Nolasco and would like to see some results.

Kennys Vargas is back in the Twins lineup tonight, but as the desginated hitter. Still, when the rest of the team came off the field, Vargas remained at first base with Paul Molitor, going over things.

La Velle E. Neal III has covered baseball for the Star Tribune since 1998 (the post-Knoblauch era). Born and raised in Chicago, he grew up following the White Sox and hating the Cubs. He attended both the University of Illinois and Illinois-Chicago and began his baseball writing career at the Kansas City Star. He can be heard occasionally on KFAN radio, lending his great baseball mind to Paul Allen and other hosts. Mark Rosen borrows him occasionally for WCCO-TV.

Phil Miller covered three seasons of Twins baseball, but that was at a different ballpark for a different newspaper. Now Miller returns to the baseball beat after joining the Star Tribune as the Gopher football writer in 2010, and he won't miss the dingy dome for a minute. In addition to the Twins and Gophers, Miller covered the Utah Jazz and the NBA for six years at The Salt Lake Tribune.